No medical facility could survive without every one of its staff members. From nurses and aides in hospital settings to developmental strategists for biopharmaceutical firms, every person on the team needs to be a good fit. Unfortunately, medical administrators face some unique challenges when it comes to finding and hiring candidates.
Working With Niche Recruiters
To outsiders, the medical industry may seem like it’s all largely the same. Anyone who works within it knows that there’s a huge difference between a community clinic and a research facility or a hospital and a pharmacy. They all provide different services and have unique requirements when it comes to staffing. Working with niche recruiters that specialize in particular fields of the medical industry is always the best way to gain access to seasoned professionals. Hiring managers can learn more from ERAPS about how this pertains to the regulatory community.
Building and Increasing Candidate Pools
When it comes to hospital recruiters seeking to fill vital healthcare roles, things like building a candidate pool can be challenging. The problem is that it’s commonplace for healthcare recruiters to begin reaching out to potential future candidates before they have even completed their educations. Of course, healthcare workers must receive on-the-job training as part of the certification process, which creates unique opportunities and challenges not just for students but also for recruiters.
Some future healthcare workers develop strong affinities for or aversions to certain facilities and wind up choosing to avoid them when they get certified and seek full-time employment. Listening to feedback offered by students regarding the culture of the healthcare facility or network is essential. Doing so allows recruiters and facility managers to work to address issues and acknowledge the ones that can’t easily be resolved, which will at least entice workers into giving the system the benefit of the doubt and remaining in the candidate pool.
Maintaining Verification Processes
Every healthcare worker needs to pass relevant tests to become certified to practice. For nurses, that often means passing tests like the NCLEX. For doctors, it means board certification. Thankfully, board certification is easy to check. Be sure to verify all claims made by candidates, not just to ensure that they will be good fits for open roles but also to avoid potential lawsuits and reputational damage.
An Emphasis on Employee Retention
These days, there is a worker shortage not just among clinical doctors and nurses but across all sectors of the healthcare industry. When that happens, employee retention needs to be a priority. Arguably the most important aspect of keeping healthcare workers happy with their jobs is ensuring proper staffing levels. Understaffed facilities place stress on healthcare workers, reduce the quality of patient care, and increase the risk of burnout.
Hiring enough staff to ensure that every team has the human resources required to work effectively and efficiently is always a worthwhile investment. In difficult markets, try enticing new workers with things like relocation assistance, ongoing training, access to amenities, and adequate leave. Eventually, those practices will create a virtuous cycle in which all of the teams are well-staffed and their members feel supported and satisfied.
Reach Out for Help
Even if a medical facility has its own in-house hiring manager or recruitment team, it’s sometimes worth reaching out for help from external sources. A niche recruitment agency may be able to widen the facility’s candidate pool in unexpected ways.
